Drier for road materials



F. H. CUMMER DRIER FOR ROAD MATERIALS .I une 8v 1926.

Filed Nov. 19, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 Z 3 lll. w mmm,... \Ma ml l In/Inktec Patented June 8, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Damn ron Roan IA'rEEnLs.

Application led November 19, 1925. Serial No. 70,103.

This invention relates to driers for road materials, such as for crushed rock, stone or like material to be used in asphalt or other pavements. The object of the invention is to provide a drier in which the heat is developed and 1 applied most eiiciently to the road material and with the least possible deteriorationof the heating drum which, with the furnace and heatingapparatus, is arranged for protection of all parts usually ex osed to the flames in a manner to avoid urning out and other harmful results.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal sectional elevation on the line 2-2, Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3--3, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view on the line l1-4, Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is.a detail sectional plan view on the' line 5 5, Fig. 2. For the inost part the apparatus requires no detailed description, because it is generally like the drier of my prior patent for asphalt mixing apparatus, anted February 3,1920,No.1,329,506. Asi ustrated, it comprises a suitable frame 1 mounted on wheels 2 and which fra-me may be jackedup orotherwise supported temporarily in the proper position at theplace of duty. On said frame is a stationary jacket 3 within which rotates a hollow drum 4 provided with tires 5 at its opposite ends mounted on rollers in the frame. The drum is inclined slightly from left to right in Fig. 1, the crushed rock or other material being ydelivered to its left end and assing through the drum from which it is discharged at lts v opposite open end to an encased conveyor 6 which elevates it to' storage bins, not

shown, such as those shown in my prior patent referred to.

As the material passesthrough the drum it is heated, both for the purpose of removing moisture and for its' other fuel in emergencies, it is here shown as equipped for use with gas or liquid fuel, such as fuel oil, in which case spaced lire brick 14 are laid upon the grate. At its feeding end the drum 4 is exposed to the outer air, to carry both -the tire5 and its end driving gear 15, the joint between the exposed end'of the drum and the stationary casing 3 being suitably sealed, as at 16, by a metal plate or in any other suitable manner. Atits opposite end, the drum also extends beyond the stationary jacket 3, its outer surface bein thereby exposed to the protective eect o `the cooler outer atmosphere and not being subjected to the lire or to direct flame applied thereto, and on its exposed portion, marked 16a is located the other tire `5. The furnace jacket 10 extends toward the discharge end of the drum as far as the end ofthe stationar jacket 3, whatever be its length. At the eeding end of the drum, the furnace is extended'to pro-V vide a mixing and combustion chamber 17 at'the outer end of which are located one or more suitable burners 18- for the gaseous or liquid fuel. This furnace extension is also lined with refractory material, and where it joins the main expansion chamber 19 in furnace 10 its walls are flared, as'at 20, to

provide fairly smooth wall surfaces which will not .unduly impede travel of the llame or the heated products of combustion. The far end of the furnace chamber,- with its lined wall 21, serves as a baille for the flames or heated products of combustion, and said wall and the grate bricks 14 produce a reverberatry effect with a more uniform application of the heat to the drum and to the material Within the same.' Y

The vaporized li uid fuel, if such is used, togetherywith the air to be mixed therewith, travel back through vthe mixin and combustion chamber 17, and are perm tted to thoroughly mix therein, combustion beginning in said chamber ,and vbeing completed in the expansion chamber'19 where the permitted to completely expand. e flames are allowed to develop quietly and to mature before they actually contact with the wall of the drum. However, to protect the drum its outer surface, within the furnace chamber 19, may carry a series of protecting or aSeS are the mixingand combustion chamber'thereinv baiing members, such as castmetalplates 22, shown as rectangular, and'provided at the four corners with legs 23 to space them from the wall of the drum, to which they 'are secured byv centerbolts- Gaps are left between adjacent plates, -so that the hot gases can readily'flow to and through a series of openings in the drum wall and communicatiug within the drum with the several furnace chamber 19 it has been fully dried and heated. However, to not only maintain its dry vcondition and the temperature to which it has been raised and indeed, to additionally heat it, if necessary, means 1s also provided for applying heat and hot gases to the discharge end of the drum. For this purpose the discharge end of the drum, as shown in Fig. 4, enters a chamber within a stationary end jacket 27 also lined with refractory materiahthe joint between said jacket and drum beingagain sealed by a metal plate, as at 28. At the bottom of the chamber therein is an opening communicating with a chute 28", Fig. 1, leading to the elevator 6. In the end of the jacket and axially co-aligned with the drum is a fire .inlet comprising a jacket 29 linedvwith refractory material 30, the inner surface of which flares outwardly' toward the as shownin Fig. 4. 'At the outer end of is located the burnerV 31. With this arrangement` the flared opening through the lire inlet permits the mixture of a1r and combustible material1to become thoroughly mixed and the llamesV pr'roNduced by combus tion thereof to develop inthe 'chamber of the jacket'.27, from which the gases flow directly into the -fjully exposed open end of therotating drum.` Here the gases are applied directly to the inside of the drum 'whlch is protected by the material being carried along with it toward the outlet, so that direct application of the llame to the metal of the drum is not so serious, in addition to which'the outer surface of the drum is, exposed tothe open air and is thereby protected.

This construction largely reduces the cost in time, labor and material 'for replacing drums where the--intense-heat has either burned clear through, the material or burned out its carbon to such an extent that the metal has '-lost its mechanical strength and'is either broken or distorted: It there- 1. A drier for road materials, comprising a frame, a rotatable drying drum through which the material is fed and provided with hot gas inlets, a stationary jacket around said drum, a furnace jacket below said stationary jacket and having an expansion chamber open to the space therein and communicating with said inlets, said furnace jacket having an extension at one end and provided with a combustion chamber leading into said expansion chamber and into the outer end of which burners may extend.

2. A drier for road materials, com rising a frame, a rotatable drying rum through which the material is fed and provided with hot gas inlets, a stationary jacket around said drum, a furnace jacket below said stationary jacket and having an expansion chamber open to the space there'- in and communicating with said inlets, said furnace jacket having an extension at one end and provided with a combustionchamber .leading into and having its walls diverging toward said, expansion chamber and into the outer end of which burners may extend.

3. A drier for road materials, comprising a frame, a rotatable drying drum thereon, a stationary jacket surrounding the discharge end of said drum having an inner expansionchamber in open communication with the open end of the drum, and an extension for said stationary jacket having a combustion chamber therein communicating with the expansion chamber in said stationary casing.

4. A drier for road materials, comprising 'a frame, a rotatable drying drum thereon having an open discharge end, and-a stationary furnace .jacket at the discharge end of said drum and provided with combustion and-expansion chambers' and afburner receiving opening coaxially aligned with the drum. j

5. A d'rier for road materials, comprising a frame, a stationary furnace jacket thereon, a rotatable drying drum extending through said furnace jacket and havin a materlal portion of its length at the charge end located outside of said jacket and exposed tothe outer air, and a stationary furnace jacket located at the discharge end of said drum and into which the latter extends.

6. A drier for road materials, `comprisln a frame, a stationary jacket, a rotatalfe drying drum extending through said jacket' and projecting beyond the same at both ends, and protecting means carried on the outside of said drum within said jacket.

7 A drier for road materials, comprising a frame, a stationary jacket, a. rotatable drying drum extending through said jacket and projecting beyond the same at both ends, protecting means carried on the outymamar end of said drum and` into whichthe same l0 extends.

In testimony whereof I hereby afx my signature.

FIUaDERIc'KV H; CUMMER. 

